OK, not sure what everyone else thinks, but when someone asks me to pay a “deposit” on something, anything, I understand that there is risk that I don’t get the deposit back IF I walk away from the deal…BUT…apparently there are quite a few schools that view a “deposit” as more of an admission reservation. Meaning…you get no credit towards tuition, room, board, fees or anything when you actually matriculate. That’s right, you make a deposit to signal you are serious about acceptance, you enroll, and that “deposit” goes into the college coffers never to be credited to you again.
Now, does $300 matter in the big scheme of a $100k education, maybe not, but how about $800? Plus, just call it what it is, a reservation fee.
Its definitely a gotta read the fine print issue. Different schools treat deposits differently. Some return it if your kid doesn’t enroll. Others refund a portion of it. Some will credit (all or a portion of it) to tuition/room and board. Others keep all of it. As long as the schools clearly state what will happen to your deposit and are consistent with what they say, I am ok with it. Because “deposit” means different things to different people/schools.
I hadn’t run into many unis where the deposit wasn’t credited toward something…but then I haven’t seen many deposits on all the college area apartments between the three kids get credited toward something or come back. I could probably sustain a family of 4 for a half year on lost apartment deposits. Like the above poster said, read the fine print.
Thanks for the response folks. I have to say though, common as well as dictionary definition of the word deposit “to give as security or part of a payment”. So yes, always buyer beware, but the college process is complicated enough, let’s just call it what it is, a reservation fee, and be done with it.
One of the schools DD just applied to sent an email this week telling her for $50 she “should” submit her housing application, cus you know spots disappear FAST and she wants to “reserve her place in line”. Although she has not yet been accepted to said school and won’t know till February. She doesn’t get the money back if she is not accepted and it does not guarantee her a darn thing except a place in line…WTH?
This reminds me of all the little fees airlines started to charge us - check in luggage, carry ons, food, better seats, etc. In labegg’s case of making a deposit of 50 for housing, that’s a pure case of just taking someone’s money. Why ask for a deposit for housing when a student is not even admitted yet? It is really just free money to the school. All my deposits for various services (hotel, venue, photographer, band…), deposits always go toward cost of service. It is only un-refundable if I cancel last minute. I think there needs to be some sort of regulations on what schools can charge. Some people may think as long as it is in writing then it is fine, but the truth is we often do not have the choice of not paying.
QUOTE:
"One of the schools DD just applied to sent an email this week telling her for $50 she “should” submit her housing application, cus you know spots disappear FAST and she wants to “reserve her place in line”. Although she has not yet been accepted to said school and won’t know till February. She doesn’t get the money back if she is not accepted and it does not guarantee her a darn thing except a place in line…WTH? "
Actually, this was the case with University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. The housing application opened up once son submitted his application. We paid the $25 non-refundable deposit to get a good housing priority date. He ended up getting accepted but decided to attend elsewhere, so we forfeited the $25.
I know it feels like a rip-off, but we felt it was worth it, and in some ways I think it makes the housing process more fair. You have control over when you apply and submit the housing deposit. You have no control at all when you will find out if you’re admitted. Why should someone who gets a late decision be penalized with a bad priority date/place in line for housing?
Just to clarify my post above. The deposit we made when my S accepted his admissions offer was applied to tuition and R and B. His school’s policy was the ealier you accepted your offer of admission and paid the deposit the better your housing assignment would be. I guess it was an incentive for prospective students to make a quick decision. Of course, those accepted through the EA process would have a definite advantage over the others would were accepted through the RD round.
There are schools that won’t put you into the housing queue until you send the admissions deposit. It puts a lot of pressure on kids to commit before May 1, which I think is completely unethical of the college. A separate deposit that is at least mostly refundable if you withdraw by some specific date (say, May 1) seems logical to me.
Why not figure out the housing after you’ve accepted the entire freshman class. No holding a place in line, no preference to those who don’t have to compare packages, no shutting out people for whom that extra money lost makes it hard to pay bills. Plenty of colleges can figure out how to divvy up the housing between mid-May and early August.
^ I Heartily agree with #15. The process is even more unfair when some dorms / housing options cost significantly more than others. As it is, the kids who need to compare options are most often the ones who are struggling financially. A friend of DD got accepted RD on 4/28 to her #1 choice after getting deferred in the EA round, and found out that her only choice of housing left was in double room - all of the much cheaper triples were taken.
We paid a $500 deposit when accepting the offer at one university (and turning down the others). Even for a very reasonably priced university this is still very small compared to what we are about to pay for tuition and fees and room and board. Whether this is deducted from the bill for tuition and fees doesn’t seem like a big deal one way or the other, as long as they are clear up front whether or not it is going to be deducted from the next bill.
We also ran into the “housing is assigned in the order that students accepted their offer of admission”. This did indeed put some pressure on our daughter to decide which school to attend a few weeks ahead of the deadline. However, the sooner she decided the sooner the pressure was off her and she could relax and enjoy the end of her senior year of high school. Also, the sooner she made up her mind and told four other schools that she wouldn’t be attending, the sooner four other kids who were on a waitlist or waiting for an answer from a school with rolling admissions got to find out that they were in. I don’t see anything wrong with this.
Because college is big business. They are looking for ways to increase revenues. To me, they should be very clear about their policies and follow through. At that point, prospective students/families can decide to take part or look elsewhere. Just like other businesses.
^^^ I agree. Of the 6 schools my son applied to, 3 did it this way (housing randomly assigned after the may 1st decision day). The other 3 had priority dates for housing.